“比拟”是“拟人”和“拟物”的总称。由于“比”、“喻”、“拟”是同义词、可以彼此互换，所以，在古今的文谈、诗论中，一直存在“比喻”和 “比拟”混称的情况。事实上，二者的语言结构是完全不同的：无论哪种类型的比喻，喻体的出现是其根本标志；而比拟却只出现被拟体，不出现拟体。或者换言之，比喻是以此喻彼，借代是以此代彼，其中的本体与喻体、本体与借体都还是两个分离的个体；比拟却是彼此交融，拟体和被拟体合二为一了。

也同样是从语言结构和表达特征上分析，与“拟人”相对应的英语辞格是personification；与“拟物”相对应的是verb-metaphor(metaphor的一种）。下面，我们首先从《红楼梦》里最成功最典型的一例拟人用法入手，分析两个译本对比拟格的翻译。

凤姐听说，便站起来，拉着薛姨妈，回头指着贾母素日放钱的一个小木匣子笑道：“姨妈瞧瞧，那个里头不知顽了我多少去了。这一吊钱顽不了半个时辰，那里头的钱就招手儿叫他了。只等把这一吊也叫进去了，牌也不用斗了，老祖宗的气也平了，又有正经事差我办去 了。”话说未完，引的贾母众人笑个不住。偏有平儿怕钱不够，又送了一吊来。凤姐儿道：“不用放在我跟前，也放在老太太的那一处罢。—齐叫进去倒省事，不用做两次，叫箱子里的钱费事。”（第四十七回）

杨译：

At this Xifeng left her seat and,taking Aunt Xue by the arm,turned and pointed at the wooden chest in which the Lady Dowager kept her money.

“Look there，aunt，”she said.“Goodness knows how much of my money has been swallowed up by that.It's less than an hour since we began，and already the money in that chest has beckoned to this string of cash. As soon as this string's gone in too we shan't have to play any more，and our Old Ancestress will have got over her temper. Then she'll send me off to attend to my duties again."

The whole company was laughing uproariously when Ping'er arrived with another string of cash，for fear her mistress might not have enough.

“There's no need to put that in front of me，”cried Xifeng.“Just put it on the old lady's pile. That will save the money in her chest the trouble of beckoning twice. ”

霍译：

Xi-feng stood up and，laying a hand on Aunt Xue's arm，pointed out to her the wooden chest in which Grandmother Jia kept her money.

‘You see that，Aunt? I don't know how much of my money has at one time or another found its way in there. Before I've been playing half an hour, my money in the chest begins calling to my money on the table to come and join it. All I have to do now is wait until it's called it all in, then the game will be over and Grannie will be in a good temper again and I shall be able to go and get on with my work.'

By the time she had finished saying this，Grandmother Jia and all the others present were laughing. They were still laughing when Patience，fearing that her mistress might have insufficient money by her，came in bringing another string of cash.

‘Don't put it down in front of me，’Xi-feng told her.‘Put it down beside Her Old Ladyship，so that all my money can go into the chest together.We don't want the money in the chest to have to go through the business of calling for it all over again.’

在这里，作者借凤姐的巧嘴，把贾母木箱子里的钱人格化，使它能“顽”，会“招手儿”，还会把凤姐的钱“叫进去”，并且让它“一齐叫进去倒省事，不用做两次，叫箱子里的钱费事”。凤姐的这番话，充分发挥了比拟的修辞作用，使原本静止、呆板、无生息的事物形象地 “活”了起来，表达效果倍增，比用直白的语言赤裸裸地恭维贾母如何如何神通广大更具感染力和表现力，辞趣与情趣带给了读者无穷的阅读乐趣。

两段译文对句中的拟人格都是借助动词来表现的那个里头不知顽了我多少去了”用swallowed up(杨译），found its way(霍译）；“那里头的钱就招手儿叫他了。只等把这一吊也叫进去了”用 beckoned to, gone in(杨译），calling …to come and join it, called it all in(霍译）；“一齐叫进去倒省事，不用做两次，叫箱子里的钱费事”用 beckoning(杨译），go through the-business of calling for(霍译）。这些动词或动词短语通常都用于描述人的行为、动作，现在用于 描述无生命的“钱”，与原文拟人格的修辞效果取得了一致。

概括地讲，两位译者在拟人格的翻译中基本上都采取了像该例这样的直译法，使译文与原文一样生动形象。

责任编辑：admin